Back for the Bronx Boys

So once again I'm forced to plead forgiveness for my lack of posting. Last week I was on spring break in Cancun, without a computer in sight, and only a little blurb in the Miami Herald to update me on the Sox. From what I read, though, my boys are doing really well! They are 8-2 over their last ten games, with only the LA Angels having a better record by one win. We are on the verge of sweeping the Yankees, in a game that my father and sister are attending but I am not, thanks to my bad luck drawing cards from a deck. I told them to bring brooms.
In Cancun I met some Yankee fans. Several Yankee bashes into our conversation, they told me I was a little pisser. I explained that once ARod cools down, which he inevitably will, the Yankees will have nothing. Their starters belong in Little League, Mariano Rivera's washed up, and Jeter has how many errors again? Six, was it? I'd be pretty embarrassed.
And finally, Coco Crisp is finally heating up, hitting a critical triple two days ago in an amazing blown save by Mariano Rivera, and going 2-4 yesterday with a stolen base. I was absolutely thrilled when I found out. It had been so long that I had forgotten what it looked like for him to make solid contact.

EDITED TO ADD: Jacoby Ellsbury went 4-for-5 with two triples, a double and three RBI Friday for Double-A Portland.
Ellsbury is 18-for-36 with seven doubles and three steals in three attempts. He also had plenty of success after moving up to Double-A last year, so he should be in Triple-A right now. However, the Red Sox already have David Murphy there and they're not eager to move either player to a corner. (stolen from bostondirtdogs.com)

Just Forget It

All the hype leading up to this game, an entire offseason of anticipation, all the pressure of unanswered questions, and we get a 7-1 beating by, of all teams, the Kansas City Royals. That's what everyone's going to be saying. Not me. Sure, it was painful, but it was one game. One game does not decide the outcome of an entire season. I wish I could find some stats somewhere to see the percentage of World Series champs who won their first game, just out of curiosity. It probably is completely unrelated. Seriously, though, relax. We'll be just fine. Once we get the nerves out, some hitters get hot, our pitchers get in a groove... we'll be everything we anticipated.
So instead of focusing on the disappointing score, let's focus on the bright spots. Our bullpen, though nothing spectacular, let up only 2 runs in 5 innings. Pedroia and Youk had two hits apiece, and Ortiz and Lowell each had a double. And my Indians beat the White Sox 12-5, with the lovely Grady Sizemore himself (who shaved his gorgeous curls, sadly) setting the tone with a homer on the game's second pitch. Trot Nixon went 3-3 with three runs scored in his Indians debut, prompting White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to say, "Thank God this only counts as one game." Paul Konerko chimed in, "The good news is it was only one loss. It felt like it should have counted for more."
But my point was, don't get all flustered. Don't start asking what's wrong with Schilling, don't start insulting our offense. There is no problem. It's Opening Day. We have months before we need to start worrying. Right now is the time to enjoy baseball for the sake of enjoying baseball.
Oh, and a random question: Does anybody know what a pitcher's ERA would be if he gave up a run but didn't get any outs, in his first outing of the year?

Opening Day

It seems somewhat surreal to me that real baseball starts tomorrow. I braced myself for the long offseason as though baseball would never come back, and when Spring Training started I was so busy, and there were so few games shown on TV, that the real season still seemed lightyears away. Yet here it is.
I don't have any real point to this post. I feel pretty guilty when I don't post in a while, though, and I figured I should write something on the eve of Opening Day.
I just wanted to point out that Coco Crisp has caught on fire, riding a five-game hitting streak including two multi-hit games. His average is up to a respectable .271. Yet people are still questioning his authenticity. Mike Lowell's batting .156, Papi's batting .226, and nobody's worried about them. 'Tek and Pedroia have both been looking more comfortable as of late, too. As long as our lower batting order clicks, we're golden. The top 5 in the lineup look great and our pitching, well, barring injury, I'd say we could have multiple Cy Young candidates.
Opening Day versus the Kansas City Royals isn't quite on the level of our first game against the Yankees, but I'm still excited like you wouldn't believe. Baseball is back!